tabee



(No Model.)

N. C. 85. L. G. TABER.

POTATO BIGGER.

No. 338,207. Patented Mar. 16, 1886.

Inventors 0&4 472240 651%. ,Z. W.

Witnesses.

r. Washi UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NILES C. TABER AND LAGELL O. TABER, OF MARILLA, NEXV YORK.

DIGGER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 338,207, dated March 16, 1886.

Application filed June 22, 1885. Serial No.169.399.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, NILEs O. TABER and LAOELL O. TABER, citizens of the United States, residing at Marilla, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in P0- tato-Diggers,of which the following is a specification.

The object of our invention is to provide the means by which potatoes can be dug, separated from the dirt, and be deposited upon .the ground as the machine is moved forward, all of which will be fully and clearly hereinafter shown, described, and claimed by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a vertical longitudinal section through line X X, Fig. 3. Fig. 2 is an enlarged detached front elevation of a portion of the mechanism for operating the shaker. Fig.3 is a front elevation of the machine. Fig. 4 is an enlarged side elevation of a detached portion of the machine,showing a portion of the mechanism for operating the shaker and Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the machine complete.

In said drawings, a c represent the frame of the machine. a is the pole or tongue to which the parts for connecting the horses are at tached. It is made in any well-known way, and, being a well-known device, is not shown complete here.

A seat, a for the driver is attached in any well-known way to the frame. It is mounted on the usual spring, a. (See Figs. 3 and 5.)

The driving and carrying wheels at a are of the ordinary construction, and are each provided with the gearing b.

The drivingwheels are secured to the frame by boxes I), and are secured on the shaft If in the usual way. A shaft, h is secured in boxes I)" on each side of the frame, and is provided with pinions I), (see Fig. 5,) which engage with the gearing b and are operated by the drivingwheels as the machine is drawn along. A scoop, c, is secured to the shaft 12 so as to turn easily thereon. It is secured to the frame rigidly in any required position by springbolts 0, secured to the upper parts of the side arms, 0 which are rigidly secured to the scoop by bolts 0 or in any other well-known way. The arms 0 are provided with handles 0, and the spring bolts with handles 0 These spring-bolts are provided with bent ends (I,

(No model.)

which project through openings in the side arms, 0?. (See Figs. 1 and 3.) cl represents a curved bar, one being secured to each side of theframea. They are providcdwith notches d It will now be seen that by drawing the handle 0 toward the handle 0* the bolts will be lifted up against the springs and the ends d out of the notches (Z and while held in this position the scoop can be turned into the position required and the bolts allowed to drop into the notches, thereby securing it at that point, and when desired it can be tipped up entirely out of the way and the bolts placed in the notches d in which position it will be held when not required for use. This scoop is made adjustable up or down by means of the bolts 0 and the slots or openings d. By this means the depth it cuts below a row of potatoes may be adjusted. Two or more arms, d, are rigidly secured to the shaft 1) and turn with it, so as to assist in pushing the vines, earth, &c., through the scoop onto the shaking and screening mechanism.

The shaking mechanism for shaking and screening the potatoes consists of a frame, 6, made to fit around the back of the scoop, and is jointed to the scoop by a pin, 6, so as to swing thereon. To this band or frame 6 is secured, by rivets c, or in any well-known way, a series of shakingbars, 0 The upper part of the frame c terminates in arms 6 and the hook-shaped portions 6 There are usually two of these arms, which are made exactly alike, one on each side of the machine; but one may be made to answer, although it would not be quite so strong. Two double 'disks,f f, are rigidly secured to the shaft b". Between each disk are secured the friction-rollers f". (See Figs. 1, 2, and 4.) Now, it will be seen that as the machine is moved forward the driving-wheels will move in the direction of the arrows o, and that the pinions b will be moved in the same direction, thereby rapidly turning the shaftifand the disks ff, and that as the friction-rollers come in contact with the hook-shaped portions 0 the shaker is made to swing on the center 6 Z (see Fig. 1) into the position shown by the dotted lines f f*, (see Fig. 4,) and that as the friction-roller moves past the hook the screen will drop to its normal position. In this construction it is very important that the joint cl should be made in the right placesomewhere near a vertical line on the frame e when in its normal position, and at the highest point on the said frame 6, or thereabout-so as to give the screen a swinging motion-that is, an oblique swinging n10ti0nso it is moved both horizontally and Vertically in an oblique line. It will be seen that as the screen moves in a direction from the front toward the back of the machine and obliquely upward it carries the load with it, thereby giving it a throw along the shaking-bars in the same direction at each of such movements, and that as it drops and swings in the opposite direction it has a tendency to move away and back from the load, so that each movement throws the dirt step by step until thrown off from the screen. The

object of this construction is therefore not only to shake the dirt off from the potatoes, but to carry whatever does not fall through the screen and'the potatoes along and off from the shaking bars or screen, as will be readily understood.

We claim as our invention- Apotato-digger consisting of the frame, the driving-wheels on the supporting-shaft provided with the usual gearing, b, the shaft b mounted in hearings on the frame and provided with pinions adapted to gear in with the gearing b, and with disks ff, having a series of friction-rollers, f, in combination with the shaking screen pivoted to the sides of the scoop by pins 6 l and having arms 0, extending upward and terminating in hook-shaped ends 6 adapted to be operated by the frictionrollers in the disks f f, to give the screen its required shaking movements, substantially as described.

NILES O. TABER. LAOELL C. TABER.

\Vitnesses:

J ENNIE M. CALDWELL, JAMns SANGSTER. 

